SkyBet EFL Championship
at Oakwell Stadium
Barnsley (0) 0
Birmingham City (0) 1
Scott Hogan 76
Attendance: 12,788 (inc. away 1,450 fans)
Mobile phone picture gallery: click HERE
Collins, Williams, Sollbauer, Andersen, Oduor (Ludewig 27), Brown, Styles (Bahre HT), Mowatt, Chaplin, Simoes (Thomas 70), Woodrow.
Unused subs - Walton, Dougall, Schmidt, Halme.
Birmingham City:
Camp, Colin, Pedersen, Roberts, Clarke-Salter, Bellingham (Harding 88), Gary Gardner, Sunjic, Montero (Bela 69), Hogan, Jutkiewicz (Dean 86).
Unused subs - Trueman, Crowley, Keita, Boyd-Munce.
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| The Mount public house. By heck, it looks warm and inviting in there. |
I tossed a coin: the options were: heads: I go and find a nice warm pub to watch the game in, or tails: I man up and get myself into the ground. Bloody hell fire! Tails it is. So I appealed the outcome and insisted that the binding result would have to be decided by a best of three coin chuck.
Kinnel! Tails again. Oh well, here goes nothing... we're all blue aren't we? At least, we effing well will be after being outside in this foul weather for a couple of hours.
The two sides weren't just vying to beat each other tonight, they were also battling against the foul weather too.
A few people around me were complaining about the visitors defensive strategy of lumping the ball clear to nobody in particular, rather than playing it out from the back... but it was a needs must situation, whereby the Winter elements weren't conducive to playing tippy-tappy artisan football for the purists.
The strong winds were dictating the way that the game was played... and though it wasn't very entertaining or exciting to watch at times (most of the time if truth be told), the low risk tactical approach was understandable, as Pep Clotet and his sidekick Gary Gardner, oversaw a horses for courses performance, on a night when the hosts, who are becoming ever more desperate for points, were bound to commit themselves to pushing forward while leaving a few gaps to exploit.
A few people around me were complaining about the visitors defensive strategy of lumping the ball clear to nobody in particular, rather than playing it out from the back... but it was a needs must situation, whereby the Winter elements weren't conducive to playing tippy-tappy artisan football for the purists.
The strong winds were dictating the way that the game was played... and though it wasn't very entertaining or exciting to watch at times (most of the time if truth be told), the low risk tactical approach was understandable, as Pep Clotet and his sidekick Gary Gardner, oversaw a horses for courses performance, on a night when the hosts, who are becoming ever more desperate for points, were bound to commit themselves to pushing forward while leaving a few gaps to exploit.
Scott Hogan had a great chance to put the visitors ahead inside the opening five minutes, but he couldn't keep his close-range shot down as he connected with Jude Bellingham's corner.
It would be easy to be critical from up in the relative shelter of the stand and say that Blues recent loan signing had missed a sitter, but the ball had a life of it's own as the so called 'Storm Ciara' demanded to be the centre of attention as it apparently moves on out of the United Kingdom, with more of a big loud bang than a whimper, to make way for the next crappy weather front that is scheduled to batter this green and pleasant land over the weekend.
The Tykes saw more of the ball than the visitors in the first-half, but regular Blues watchers will be familiar with the way that they are adept at standing off and keeping their shape while letting other teams pass the ball to death while restricting any kind of attacking intentions they might have.
Jordan Williams, Callum Styles and Jacob Brown tested Lee Camp, but they were forced into shooting from long range, because the visitors defence weren't in any kind of mood to hand over the key to unlock the final third. Camp performed admirably, as Gerhard Struber's side lamented the fact, that Blues keeper is relishing holding onto his position by playing better of late, than he has done throughout the whole his time with Birmingham. Keyboard warriors like to crucify Camp, but those who actually travel to games on a regular basis, sing his praises. You work it out.
It would be easy to be critical from up in the relative shelter of the stand and say that Blues recent loan signing had missed a sitter, but the ball had a life of it's own as the so called 'Storm Ciara' demanded to be the centre of attention as it apparently moves on out of the United Kingdom, with more of a big loud bang than a whimper, to make way for the next crappy weather front that is scheduled to batter this green and pleasant land over the weekend.
Jordan Williams, Callum Styles and Jacob Brown tested Lee Camp, but they were forced into shooting from long range, because the visitors defence weren't in any kind of mood to hand over the key to unlock the final third. Camp performed admirably, as Gerhard Struber's side lamented the fact, that Blues keeper is relishing holding onto his position by playing better of late, than he has done throughout the whole his time with Birmingham. Keyboard warriors like to crucify Camp, but those who actually travel to games on a regular basis, sing his praises. You work it out.
Just before half-time Conor Chaplin fizzed the ball just past the post, but Blues were still containing and frustrating their hosts and patiently waiting for the opportunity to put them on the canvas with a sucker punch to arrive... while Jeremie Bela continued to warm-up on the touch line, as the away support chanted his name with gusto, in both hope and anticipation.
Stay tuned folks, Birmingham's French winger will eventually be unleashed on these unsuspecting Yorkshiremen in due course, but not until that nice Mr Clotet has had him chomping at the bit for a while longer yet... and wondering what he's got to do to get selected in front of Jefferson Montero.
Jeremie's got a point to prove... so apologies Barnsley, but you're going to be on the receiving end imminently, but all's fair in love, war and midweek football, under the floodlights, in the wind, rain, and sleet. It did to snow too, but the gales kept that particular element at bay... for now.
Barnsley struggled to find even half as much will to breakdown Blues in the second half, as they began to look more and more resigned to their inevitable fate: League One football again next season... and then they were kiboshed, in the seventieth minute, by the abrupt arrival of 'Storm Jeremie', who twisted, turned and tormented the Reds defence and pulled them all over the place.
Blues had absorbed whatever their hosts had to chuck at them and were now ready to pounce and move in for the kill. It had been an ugly, rugged, hard fought and almost brutalist battle plan that Clotet's troops had implemented to wear down Barnsley so far, but as they say: 'any port in storm', which was very apt tonight... and now it was time to finish the job off.
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| Half t-time entertainment was provided by Ciara. That Barnsley rain, is a different breed of rain, tha knows! |
The second-half was turning into a proper slog... a test of endurance for both those who were trying to play the game in a variety of horrible weather conditions and the 12,788 hardy souls who'd braved the elements, most of whom must've been wishing that they had stayed at home and opted to use that red button on their TV remote tonight instead. Hogan made two runs, deep inside the hosts half to no avail, while Jude Bellingham, in between chasing down every single ball, advanced forward but shot wide.
The purposeful effort being shown by both sides was very commendable, but try as they might, the end product was lacking and the game was ebbing away towards a goalless stalemate, unless something was going to manifest itself out of nothing, to give this tussle that extra missing ingredient.
Lo and behold, as the clock nudged towards seventy minutes, a Frenchman wearing a yellow shirt, bearing a royal blue number 11 on it's back, was dropped into the action like a highly charged and primed scatter-bomb... and nothing would ever be the same again.
Bela's mazy running, lay-offs, close control, unshackled dribbling skills and audacious trickery, began to pull the hosts well regimented back-line all over the place and gave Blues (and the game itself) a hitherto missing dimension... some space.
Having found themselves stretched, Barnsley took their eye off the ball (quite literally) as they tried to regroup... two Tykes defenders: Ben Williams and Mads Andersen, were under the impression that they had shepherded the ball safely out of play, but completely missed the sight of Bellingham motoring past them like Billy Whizz, before snaffling the ball away before it went out of play and knocking it inside towards Hogan who took a touch, then clipped it past Brad Collins with a peach of a shot on the turn, from fifteen yards out, that nestled into the back of the net.
Incidentally, the online definition of the Beano character Billy Whizz is: a boy who can run extraordinarily fast. His speed often causes chaos yet at the same time his ability can prove useful.
I think that more or less sums up Bellingham's input tonight too.
That's three goals in three games for Hogan (one in each) now, since he arrived on loan at St. Andrew's last month. I think that I'm safe in assuming that everyone who went online to express their disappointment, dismay and annoyance at Blues only having captured an Aston Villa reserve team player on loan during the transfer window, is quickly scrolling back through all of their misplaced vitriolic posts to delete them, while holding up their hands to concede that Pep Clotet actually knew what he was doing when he targeted the striker as a potential signing.
Barnsley were finished, they had nothing left to give and as Blues saw the game out by replacing the hard working Lukas Jutkiewicz and Bellingham, with two more defenders in: Wes Harding and Harlee Dean, and effectively switched to a back six against a side that didn't even look to have a single drop of body fuel left in their reserve tank. Bela was barged off the ball inside the Tykes penalty area late on, but the referee didn't think it was a foul... subsequent replays suggest that it was, but hey ho! It was game over now anyway.
FT: Barnsley 0 v Birmingham City 1
Roll out all of the cliches. Y'know the sort of thing... it was a typical away performance, Blues did a job on Barnsley, Birmingham parked the bus, etc. etc. but give credit where it is due tonight The visiting coaching team's game-management, along with the fitness level and work-rate of their whole team, means that Blues are now unbeaten in nine, up to fourteenth in the table and (hold your horses) seven points off the play-offs with the momentum gained from a great sequence of results building in their favour.
Barnsley however, are nine points adrift of twenty-first place Stoke City, who have a game in hand (at home against Preston North End tomorrow night)... and though it must have been difficult to even attempt to take off in tonight's storm, let alone fly, them there vultures were circling mercilessly over Oakwell by the time that the final whistle sounded.
If Luton beat Sheffield Wednesday tomorrow night, the Reds will slide to the bottom of the table.
Birmingham face an altogether different sort of challenge at the weekend, when fourth placed Brentford (who drew with Leeds United tonight) visit St. Andrew's, while the Tykes are probably not looking forward to their trip to London, where they'll face third placed Fulham on the same afternoon.
